Theatre Jobs

[carsonld]

I am currently a junior in Moore, Oklahoma (Right by OKC). I have recently been looking at colleges and what I would like to major in. I love lighting and set design so I would really like to major in Set Design or Lighting Design. I've also thought about majoring in architecture since I could apply those same concepts to set and lighting design. And I am also really thinking about becoming a drama teacher or stage craft teacher. I was wondering what y'all do out there? What did you go to college for? Whats your average salary? I've been researching a lot of this and was just wondering whats other people who are in this industry are doing and how they got started and what they suggest. Thanks!

 

[kiwitechgirl]

I've moved slightly sideways out of the technical world these days (I'm the Operations Manager for a very busy opera and ballet orchestra) but spent ten years in the industry before moving to this job. I actually studied psychology at university (although I spent thousands of hours in the on-campus theatre working on student shows and for incoming hirers), and it honestly is very useful to me (and was in my four years stage managing too!); an understanding of how people function and why they behave as they do can make things a lot easier. From uni I had a year working as a casual lighting tech, then had two years studying Performance Technology, with a focus on lighting and stage management. While I was studying I spent the summer between my two years working full time for a lighting hire company, and also picked up the odd gig (we sometimes got hired out!) with the local professional theatre company. From there it was off into the big wide world and I haven't stopped since. Average salary has varied massively (I've worked in a few different cities and countries - NZ, the UK and now Australia) but then so have my living costs. My stage management job paid me less than $40k a year, but that still paid my mortgage and left me plenty to live and have fun on....now I'm earning nearer $60k but living costs are much higher. You don't go into the arts to be rich! Still, I wouldn't change it for the world.

 

[TheaterEd]

The biggest thing you need to think about is what real job do you want, and what training will help you get that. Also, does that job exist, and are you willing to travel to where that job exists? Personally, I wanted to act or to be a teacher. I came from a VERY small school with no theater classes, so when I got to college and found out that you could actually teach theater at a high school level, I had a plan. Become an acting teacher. From that point I took almost every theater class my college offered as an elective while working towards my theater education degree. Once I hit the job market, I found that 'High School Acting Teacher' isn't really a job here in Wisconsin that has a high turn over rate. I see maybe One full-time job hit the market every year. I have found that theater people tend to work Very late into their lives. Fortunately, I always had a love for tech and was able to parlay my Education degree into a part-time Facility Management Job which gave me enough experience to get my current job. I am a facility manager for a high school theater, and get to teach the tech theater class. I basically get to do tech all day every day and I love it! That said, I make slightly less than a teacher and work much longer and weirder hours so that is a bit of an issue, but if you are looking to make a living doing tech in Oklahoma, I highly recommend having the education degree.
In addition to a theater education degree, being able to teach other subjects will make you MUCH more marketable to schools. I recommend English. A large number of HS Tech jobs were looking for a person that could also teach English or speech class.
For the first two years out of college I couldn't find a real job and was living off of 12k a year with no health insurance or benefits.
When I started part time my commute was 1 hour and 45 minutes each way and I made around 22k. My new job is ten minutes from home and I make around 37k.

This is just my experience so YMMV.

The advice that I read on here and give to almost all of my students is.
"If you can find something other than theatre that you want to do, do that."

The majority of people I went to college with do not have jobs in theater at all. One of my best friends works for a large theater company in the area full time and makes less than 20k. Most of the rest work in retail or in restaurants. There is nothing wrong with those jobs, unless you paid 40-60k for a degree.

It will be at least 10 years before I am able to pay off my college debt. I make just enough to pay our bills, my wife makes enough for us to live comfortably.


If you haven't already stopped by these posts, I recommend you read them. They give a lot of food for thought.

http://www.controlbooth.com/threads...to-pursue-a-career-in-technical-theatre.8076/
http://www.controlbooth.com/threads/how-important-was-your-college-degree-to-your-career-path.22893/
http://www.controlbooth.com/wiki/?title=Collaborative-Articles:Getting-a-Job-in-the-Industry

 

[de27192]

I work in professional theatre and in a team of about 15 of us I don't think anyone has a theatre related degree. Seriously.

Seriously, study something that will be beneficial to you for the rest of your life. Nobody knows where theatre will head in the next 50 years. But maths and physics are sure to stay around forever. Even outside such 'brainy' subjects, studying something cultural rather than technical will last longer. Studying something along the lines of performing arts business or music business or something... it's relatable and keeps you within the same industry, but the influence it has, and the areas of study you will follow, will open up a broader range of possibilities later on.

Also just remember because you like lights and set now, it doesn't mean you will in 5 years. It's easy to think you're really into something when you only do it for fun, when it's a job the novelty wears off and you soon find out if you really like it or not. My job is completely and utterly unrelated to what I was completely convinced I wanted to do when I was 18. If I'd studied a subject that was 100% focussed on that job, I'd have had a much tougher time convincing my current employer how it equated into a useful degree for the job I do now.